Hacker's Academy
by Lyrei
Summary: HAVEN-Hacker’s Academy for the Villainously Educated and Notorious.No one knows it exists,or what goes on behind the walls. Except the hackers themselves. Something sinister is going on... What is the purpose of the Academy? Six will discover,and destroy.
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Maplestory, Nexon does. Everything below that has references to Maplestory is Nexon's.**

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-

**Prologue.**

A feather fell from the Orbis Tower. It was pure white, like the feather of the cranes which roosted in the rooftops of the Korean Folk Town. But what would the elegant crane be doing here in the land of the elvenfolk?

The elf caught it in between the tips of his fingers when it brushed lightly against his pointed ear. He woke from the meditative state he was in, his right hand a haze of electric blue pure mana. The skeleton of a weapon was beneath his hands on a marble table, surrounded by materials ranging from wood to the precious Dark Crystal. His chocolate inquisitive eyes appraised the feather, then a bright smile broke across his snow-white face. He raised his arms into the sky and spoke as the rest of the elvenfolk watched, dropping whatever they were doing to listen.

This elf was the great tinker-mage Areziel Razi' Darogl of the Ellinian lands. The exquisite Dragon Shiner Bow had been formed at his hands, as had the rest of the dragon weapons. When he spoke, he was heard.

'The Gods have made their decision,' he said, in his soft whispery voice that seemed to echo through the Marble Halls. 'Our request be heard, comrades. This white feather does represent mercy, freedom, purity. The blood of our neighbours will not be spilt.'

A great cheer broke out through the hall, as the peace-loving elvenfolk embraced each other in the salvation of human-kind. They loved their neighbours, however stupid and judgmental they could be.

Areziel watched sadly as his thousand-strong family drew out their harps and made music that drew out even the most reclusive elves and tame monsters. They danced around crackling dark flames that burnt not their skin, and sang to the fire that so lovingly embraced their hair and their clothing. His grandchild, the fairy-elf child Maeve Moireth' Darogl, sensed his sorrow and came to him.

'What is wrong, elvenfather?'

He shook his head and gestured at their family, dancing and making merry.

'We have saved the humans, but at what price?' He turned to her, his bright eyes now dull and weary. 'It is no secret that the humans despise us because of what we are. They hate the fact that we alone can tame the monsters and have them dance to our every whim. They hate how we can create such fine weapons that we give freely away.'

He looked gravely at his granddaughter and took her petite hand. 'Most of all, they fear our power. Now we have saved them, and they are in our debt. When they find out, they will destroy us once and for all.'

His granddaughter looked stricken by his words, so he forced a smile and led her to the fire. That night they drunk fine wine and toasted a thousand toasts to the health of their human neighbors.

That night, the elf-diviner Breanne Levuir' Darogl of the lands of El Nath tossed and turned in her bed, the silk sheets offering no comfort to her. She sensed true danger from their miracle, but when she pursued it, their future was fragmented like shards from a broken mirror- reflecting something but distorted. Despaired, she fell into the land of Dreams for her comfort.

That night, the words of the prophecy came to her in her sleep. She spoke them to her husband, the tinker-mage Areziel, and he in turn spoke them to their grandchild. Together with their immediate family, they fled their home. For only they could be saved as the news of salvation reached their human neighbours.

That night, the humans stormed Orbis with calculating murder in their dead eyes, determined to be rid of the elvenfolk who saved their lives. No one was spared, save the fairy-angel folk who were deemed to be a separate species with their wings.

To the lands of Ellinia they fled, sheltered only by the elven-human class instructors who were powerful enough to construct a secret haven for them, safe from prying human eyes. For only those with elven blood could pass through the secret doors. With tears in their eyes, they sang the cold song of Prophecy, mourning their old home with the desire for revenge in their once peaceful hearts.

_Night shall creep through the walls._

_Alerting none of silent pain._

_With it shall come six elven terrors_

_These killing-elves are inhumane._

_Beware the six for their elven spells_

_Should not be used on human kind._

_And these heartless elves shall roam_

_Destroying your spirits and your minds._

_The dragon warrior the future knows_

_The fire child burns your world away._

_The night lord your minds shall expose_

_The bishop your emotion sways._

_The elven huntress has forging powers_

_The bandit boy the mind persuades._

_The elven might shall bloom flowers_

_By the blood of humans the debt is paid._

The elvenfolk cared not for the human world any longer, and their bright energy blended with hatred to become the dark energy of the night. They sought the pure descendents of their kind, determined not to let them be exposed to the ways of the humans. They were dubbed the 'hackers' by the humans, and were slain mercilessly. Their safe haven was forgotten by the successors of the class instructors, except for the elven-human Athena Pierce, who was immortal through her heritage. The elves waited, hearts turned cold and bitter towards the people they once loved and saved.

For the gods had spared the humans in exchange for the lives of the elves.


	2. Kidnapping

**

* * *

**

Disclaimer: Everything is ©Wizet & Nexon. Or whoever owns Maplestory at the moment. :/

**HAV.**

**Hacker's Academy for the Villainously Educated and Notorious.**

**Chapter One.**

**The retrieval.**

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* * *

_**The first of the six.**_

_**Zack.**_

_I'm not fancy._

_I don't have style._

_But I have a heart, and a back-up plan._

_Which is more than I can about you._

* * *

_Damn it, damn it, damn it…_

'Sorry lady, gotta run.'

I leaped over an elderly civilian, who looked around cluelessly for my dark-sighted form. I always felt kinda sorry for the civilians. No power, no rank, no respect. It wasn't a good life, but hey, each to his own.

'Where the hell is he? Sinda, d'you see him?'

I heard a distinctive poof of an assassin using dark sight, and groaned. _**Shit.**_ 'Sins could see each other in dark sight, which meant I had to hurry, and fast. I dove blandly through the stinking trash of the alleyways in Kerning, once again cursing myself for choosing this god-forsaken city to hide in.

Then I hit a concrete wall.

_Oh crap._

Time to activate the back-up plan. I immediately began to chuck arrows along with other random stuff at the wall, hoping to look as if I was having a little psychotic fit. I heard the sounds of approaching people. People who I'd happily avoid, any day. I chucked another case full of arrows at the ground, before being slammed into the wall for the second time that day.

'Why, hello little sin. You gonna give us the mesos you owe us?'

Grinning edgily at the oversized buffoons in front of me, I attempted to wriggle past them. No luck- the 'sin with the skull earrings picked me up by the collar of my sauna robe. I tried not to breathe in as he leant towards me.

'One million mesos ain't no small price, young grasshopper. The boss usually doesn't give nothing about small fry like you, but our new commander does.' He paused for dramatic effect. 'Which means that life's gonna be _very _unpleasant for you if you don't got no mesos.'

I tried to twist myself out of his grasp, and he let rip a roar of laughter.

'How old are ya squirt? Nine? Ten?'

I fixed my eyes on him and evenly replied with a smirk on my face.

'I'm thirteen years, three months and seven days old.'

'Less of the lip, kid. You got mesos, or you don't got mesos?'

His grip tightened on my collar and I struggled to breathe.

'I don't have 'em.'

Then I activated the small piles of junk lying around the place, laughing maniacally when debris hit them in the eyes. The stuff never hit me for some strange reason. But who the hell was I to be questioning why?

'I'll get ya for this, you little punkass! Your life is gonna be real bad from now on.'

My life was always 'real bad', as my ex-opponent so eloquently put it. His past shenanigans were nothing but a slight irritation after all. I ignored his cries and started stabbing some Tobis into their eyes, blinding them.

'Bravo. Not bad for an initiate-to-be.'

I turned my head quickly at the voice, carefully noticing how much stuff I had left over for a second explosion. It was enough.

'Who the fuck are you guys?'

I narrowed my eyes at them, slowly sinking into a fighting stance. My opponents looked relaxed, as if seeing two people blown up by a thirteen year old kid was perfectly normal. I assessed them physically.

The first one was definitely a ranger, with a Blue Marine covered in softly glowing runes. He had covered his armor in Nexon clothes, which was somewhat impractical.

The second was a dragon knight, with a fancy-looking fairfrozen. It looked different from the other fairfrozens I had seen. Fancy carvings and what looked like runes covered it entirely, glowing softly in the darkness. He too had covered up his armor with Nexon clothes.

Whoever had paired up these guys were smart- A ranged and a close attacker.

But no time for more speculations. My quick assessment had taken less than a second, but my opponents had caught the calculating glance.

'So sorry, we have no time for talking. We are sure that there will be plenty of time later if you wish to discuss anything. _Carpe diem. _We must seize the day.'

The ranger laughed softly.

I blinked. Sure, it was a refreshing change from the usual language butchered by thieves and slum people, but the way he spoke was too cultured for Kerning.

Too late.

The ranger cocked his bow and shot me in the leg, causing my world to tilt and swirl into darkness.

My subconscious was thanking the Dark Lord that it wasn't an arrow bomb.

* * *

_**The second of the six.**_

_**Aria.**_

_I am bound to earth, but I still aim for the sun._

_My life in exchange for servitude._

_Never challenged, never defeated._

_To the world I am nothing but a pet._

_A venus flytrap in a pretty vase._

* * *

'Why thank you Anne dear, I don't know what we'd do without you.'

'It's Ari-'

I heard myself saying automatically. I stopped mid-phrase and sighed internally. If these people didn't get my name the second time, they weren't going to get the hundredth time or so.

'Of course, _**we're**_ both happy to help, Mrs Forester. _I _know that Aria is improving under _my _care. I am the higher leveled after all.'

My healing partner, Rick, let off an absolutely _fake _laugh, while nodding his head like there was no tomorrow.

No words could express my wish to become a pyromancer at that moment, and burn him to ashes. Instead, I smiled sweetly at the old couple and nodded my goodbye, while stepping outside into the sunlight and into the arms of my boyfriend, Skye.

'Your eyes are so green today. Green as the magic you practice.' He murmured into my hair. I pushed him away, laughing.

'You know how I hate your poetic shit, Skye.'

His tawny eyes twinkled merrily at me.

'Aw Ari, you know you secretly adore my 'poetic shit'. One day my 'poetic shit' will be plastered over all the billboards of Henesys!'

I shot him a wry grin, while tapping his Red Viper with my Maple Staff. His Red Viper looked too pristine for someone who was supposed to be training six hours a day, whereas my Maple Staff looked somewhat worn, even though it was supposed to be brand new.

He groaned at me.

'Don't _you _start reminding me about training too, Ari. The folks actually hired a guy to make me grind.' He pointed proudly at his armor. 'I'm level 37 now.'

His smile dropped a little.

'Still a long way away from your level 41 though.'

I looked at him sympathetically. It was a rule that the Village Elder had made- one could only train with another within your level range. Right now I honed my healing skills with Rick- a level 43 cleric who irritated my wand off. Shoving his superior status in my face… I knew exactly _where_ he could shove his higher level. Right up his ass.

Skye was babbling on about what his folks had told him about bringing pride to the family, instead of what I called his 'poetic shit'. Secretly I agreed with his parents. Maple Poets were few and far between, and most of them had died in poverty and were a disgrace to their family. That was why all of them never revealed their last name.

'Y'know, sometimes I think it's wrong to coop you up in Henesys, training to be the local healer.' He looked at me, and questioned me softly. 'You don't want to be the village healer at all, do you Ari?'

My heart turned cold, and I looked at him with narrowed eyes.

'Don't ever, ever say that Skye. I…' I tried to swallow my uneasiness at the lie. 'I'd _love _to be a village healer someday. Healing all of those people just makes me…'

Makes me feel bored. Makes me feel like puking my guts up with boredom. Makes me magically frustrated. Makes me feel caged in. Makes me feel that I have to get out of this place, screaming all the way in ecstasy.

'It makes me feel good.'

Skye snorted.

'I say you're lying. _I _think that they're wasting your powers here.'

My eyes twitched in irritation. Skye didn't understand just how _enclosed _I was here. And of the treaty. The unofficial treaty was that Henesys would take me in, in all of my orphan-ness, and in return I become a healer and basically be their servant.

'And our masters agree.'

Who the hell? I mentally rummaged through my list of the voices of the inhabitants of Henesys. No one with the ice-cold voice. Gulping, I slowly turned and met the gaze of two people.

I stared at their weapons.

Scratch that, two awesomely high-levelled people with fancy Nexon clothes that just made me drool.

'Greetings, Aria of Ellinia.' The first of them nodded politely towards me, and then he focused on Skye. 'I do not have the pleasure of knowing your name.'

I understood their speech perfectly, although Skye looked a little confused. I felt a little impatient and wished that he would understand that the guy was asking for his name. Wait. That guy had called me Aria of _Ellinia. _Wasn't I born in Henesys?

'Oh, it's Skye.'

At that moment, I loved his knowledge of poetic shit. Understanding the old scriptures meant that he knew what the hell the guy was talking about. I looked back at the guys.

'We are so sorry, but this must happen.'

What must happen?

Faster than lightning, the mage aimed a small blue orb at Skye. He was fast, and his attack was too fast for me to block. Which was why I watched in horror as I saw icy tendrils start crawling across Skye's body, knocking him out cold immediately. This attack was unknown to me.

Then I calmly stared at the orb melting on my skin, and moving a breakneck speed towards the upper part of my body.

_Me next._

* * *

_**The third of the six.**_

_**Xan.**_

_Some people call me mysterious._

_Some just call me a fucking cold bastard._

_Either way, I'm not well- liked._

_Not that I give a damn anyway._

* * *

'New mission. His name is xxd3xl4zzs1nzxxx. Fuck up his life. You get ten big ones for doing it.'

He shook his head at the exorbitant reward. Ten million was no small amount of mesos in the slum-city of Kerning. Mesos was king here.

'What'd he do? Kill-steal some guy with big money?'

My boss, Ernie raised his eyebrows.

'Ours is not to question why, Korean boy.'

He said cryptically, kicking me out of the small apartment. I got the message. Do the job and shut the fuck up. I looked at the dirty scrap of paper he had shoved into my hand. Scar his face badly. Steal all his money and belongings. Do the same to his family and friends. Put word out that anyone who was chummy with him got the same treatment.

The usual.

I grimaced, resigning myself or yet another day working for the Kerning Underworld. No one could grasp the idea of my dissatisfaction. To them, I was riding the gravy train. Looks, youth. money. I didn't want to become some jaded, weak bandit, powerful only through the bullying of some random people. But mesos were mesos.

And work was work.

I pulled out my communicator, and searched for his name. Hell, was it fashionable these days to change your name as soon as you reach maple island? Honestly, I could think of better names than 'xxd3xl4zzs1nzxxx'.

'Time to scar people. Literally.' I murmured to myself, clutching my VIP Teleport rock. I zoomed off to the ever popular Ant Tunnel I. Seemed like I was going to have an audience.

The familiar feeling of being compressed into a tight ball and squeezed from space and time came over me. Time costs money. Money was worth the feeling of puking. Money was worth the feeling of puking. Money was worth the feeling of puking.

Shit, I'd rather take the VIP taxi from Ellinia.

'Yo, man.'

The rouge with the buzzcut and green bamboo hat turned and stopped the barrage of kumbis at the monsters. The surrounding mages and bowmen sighed in relief. Too poor to hire a professional kill-stealer.

'What d'you want?'

'Oh, nothing. Except your ugly mug scarred.'

I leapt forward and started slashing his face with my Korean Fan, trying not to get blood on it. My inner self began mocking me.

_A parting gift from your so-called parents. Also known as some random strangers who took you in for a weekly 10 thousand mesos._

After slashing enough to cause scars, I stopped.

It was always like this.

The shocked silence amidst the pathetic wails of the victim.

The aftershock.

Then everyone started running, screaming or whatever. Hell had nothing on a panicking crowd. Everyone just wanted to get away from the psycho 'dit and the fucked-up 'sin. My voice carried out across the crowd.

'Remember. Help him and you'll be screwed up. Tell your friends and family, courtesy of Xan.'

It was empty within a minute, except for a lone pair who was swiftly making their way across to me. From afar, I could see that they were high-levelled. A mage of some sort and a bandit like me.

With a flash of teleport, both of them arrived in front of me.

They inclined their heads as if we were living in some upper-class society.

'Greetings, Xan of Korean Folk Town.'

They sure talked like rich people too. I felt something collide with me softly, and I looked down at my chest. A green orb of sort was eating through my armor, and soon I felt it sinking through my body.

'Our apologies, but all will be revealed later on.'

Feh. Apart from speaking strangely, they were fucking clichéd too.

* * *

_**The fourth of the six.**_

_**io.**_

_I'm named after a moon._

_I don't have to revolve around a planet._

_I can __**be**__ the fucking planet._

_And they can revolve around me._

_Let's see how they like it._

* * *

Blonde hair, blue eyes.

Typical of people who lived in Orbis.

With the fucking fairy-angels.

And oh god, were they _superior._

'Ooh la la, daaaarling. You _must _keep that back straight, dear.' The angel tittered. 'You wouldn't want to appear to be _slouching _when you serve Sir Vrexel the Ninth his soup!'

I wouldn't _slouch_ with the soup. I'd throw it in his fucking fairy-pixie-angel mutant face, and laugh when it turns red. I gritted my teeth and put on my cute angel-servant face that put puppies to shame.

'Of course not Lady Mirakir! I must work harder to be the best, Lady Mirakir!'

Strangely, I was her freakin' star pupil. Maybe the cute smile really did work. Or was it the suck-up attitude? Hmm. Can't decide.

Lady Mirakir's school for the children was an orphanage. No one ever called it that, but everyone knew it. No angelic children ever went near it, because it was for all those _**POOR. INFERIOR. HUMANS.**_

I hated how they looked down on humans, especially when we could beat them in a straight fight. They were just the figurehead of the ship- or an ornament on a mantelpiece. Pretty, but useless and defenseless. And pretty bitchy too.

'Now girls, we must practice…'

I went on autopilot.

After two o' clock, we had the whole day to ourselves, which was seriously cool. I grabbed my old Ryden and dressed in armor that Lady Mirakir would have burnt immediately if she ever saw them. Every human kid in the school was a civilian, except for me. I would have been, if it wasn't for Nika.

Nika was a highly skilled ranger with a wicked Marine Arund. She had decided to train me after I sat at the safe corner in Orbis Tower, watching longingly at the armored people killing the Jr. Sentinels in my school uniform. She sneaked me off Orbis one time to do my job advance as a hunter- my first time off the continent of Ossyria!

Nika never told me why she had decided to stop her own training and assist me. I never asked, because I was afraid she would seriously consider it and cast me aside, saying she had her own dreams.

Call me selfish, but it was just basic self-survival. Being an orphan told me to cling tightly to every opportunity that came my way. Which is why I stuck to Nika like glue. And perhaps it was being an orphan that enabled me to level to 34 in three weeks of hardcore training.

I waited behind the school for a couple of minutes, and then stomped off to Orbis Tower impatiently. Nika was never late… why would she start now? I shook off the feeling of angriness immediately, reminding myself that if it wasn't for Nika, I'd be an useless civilian now.

If I didn't want to be anything, it would be useless.

I started whacking sentinels with my bow- firing off with the steel arrows that Nika had bought for me from Ludibrium. Every arrow hit their mark, and I quickly scooped up the sentinel pieces and mesos.

I was still saving for the ticket and other travel expenses. No way in hell was I gonna stay at the orphan school. Nika would give me the money if I asked her, but I didn't like sponging off her.

I was just finishing off the quest that the adventurer Huckle gave to me. I adored Huckle like an uncle. He'd tell me his journeys to the far off lands, including a place like a desert, called Ariant!

The minutes ticked by. Ten, twenty, thirty. I was rapidly gaining experience, swallowing the mana and health pills from Ludibrium quickly. Eighty percent… Ninety percent…

Level up.

I felt disappointed that Nika wasn't here to celebrate with me, but I felt anxious as well. Nika wouldn't just leave me here… would she?

'Congratulations, io of Orbis .'

I looked across the platform, at two people leaning against the tower wall.

'Thank you.'

I couldn't tell exactly what job they were from my limited experience, but I guessed that one was a mage and the other was definitely a sniper.

I know more about archers than any other thing.

Sue me.

'What brings you here? You guys look pretty high-levelled.' I noted, looking at their fancy-looking armor and equips. I had never seen any of them before.

The mage broke into a smile.

'Don't flatter us, young hunter. We are quite low-levelled in our...' He hesitated. '_World.'_

Their world? There was only one world wasn't there? Maple World. And the different servers.

The sniper cocked his head to one side to observe me. It made me feel uncomfortable under his gaze, and I squirmed.

'There is a time for talking, and a time for departure. The latter is due now.'

Departure?

I felt something pierce through my armor and my skin, but I was frozen, and could not scream.

* * *

_**The fifth of the six.**_

_**Neri.**_

_They say I'm cold._

_They say I'm heartless._

_They say I'm powerful._

_I'm quite inclined to believe them._

_Because that's everything anyone has said about me._

_If I had any other hidden qualities, someone would have said something._

_Maybe there's nothing left inside me._

* * *

'You must train harder. You must push yourself to your maximum limit. When you have achieved that, you must push yourself to your new limit.'

I glanced at my master briefly, then went back to the extermination of the Straw Target Dummies. Kunais littered the ground and walls, remnants of someone else's exercise. The walls and floor would sometimes open up and swallow them, and I had to be careful not to be sucked into the Infinite Hole.

'Therefore the word 'limit' is redundant. The word 'limitation' is banished.'

He was brainwashing me again.

I was beginning to feel slightly tired from a hard day's work of slashing at various monsters around my hometown, Mu Lung. It was a crude English interpretation of the fearsome female warrior it was named after, and I hated it.

Yet again, I had found nothing in this world to like either.

'You must not be weak, or show weakness.'

'You must destroy anyone in your way to become the greatest dragon knight.'

'Let no one come between you and your path.'

With these 'sagely' words, he swept out of the training grounds, leaving me to slash at yet another row of scarecrow-like creatures.

Let's get out the rice wine and celebrate. My master has finally left me alone, instead of brainwashing me with his all-knowing phrases.

'Aren't you tired?'

'A warrior is never tired.'

'Your own words or your master's?'

I finally glared at the owner of the voice.

A strong assassin with what I recognized from my weapon studies as Casters, accompanied with a silent crusader, his power-rings, or combo attack evident. They were sitting on the roof of the training compound.

I raised my eyebrows.

'Please descend from the roof. You might damage the tiles.'

'Of course, but only after this.'

I ducked behind a straw target dummy and used it as a shield for the onslaught of kunais. Green liquid exploded from the point of contact. _Poison?_

'I missed?'

Disbelief was well alive in his cultured voice, and his companion couldn't help but laugh. His booming laugh quickly morphed into the Crusader's Roar, which almost caught me unawares.

'You're strong.'

Long hours of slaving away while being brainwashed by the Master had finally paid off. Not that I had enjoyed any minute of it.

A dull thunk against my armor informed me that I had lost, as I slowly toppled over. The star had slammed into me at an incredible speed, and it occurred that the people had been just toying with me earlier.

'_You're very strong.'_

I was pleased to hear a note of respect in his tone. Faint, but it was there.

* * *

_**The last of the six.**_

_**Elyian.**_

_My life is not my life to lead._

_But based upon the wishes of others._

_I have no path, I have no dreams._

_Half living on the desires of others._

_Am I just a puppet with cut strings?_

* * *

'You must not do well. You must be the best.'

'_Yes father.'_

'Make our clan proud.'

'_Yes mother.'_

'Do not show emotions. Emotions are for the weak. And weakness must never be shown.'

'_Yes master.'_

'Become the elite.'

'_Yes brother.'_

I felt more alone than ever.

The airship of the Hacker's Academy for the Villainously gifted was pleasantly warm. The people accompanying me were pleasant. Anything concerning the Academy was pleasant.

I bit my lip, feeling the awakened Hackinium in me swirl dangerously to the tips of my fingers at my small show of emotion. When I saw the ranger that was accompanying me look at me, I retreated behind my emotionless mask.

'Is everything to your liking, Lady Elyian?'

I inclined my head, hating how I couldn't just smile and reply in the affirmative. Just another part of my life.

Being born into the Tasaire family was worse than anyone could ever imagine. From that moment on, I grew up surrounded by traditions, power, wealth, ridiculous expectations, and training.

When I was younger, I wanted to shout at my brother for suddenly changing after an intense three-month training session with my master. I demanded to know exactly _why _he wouldn't talk to me, smile at me, or play with me. I was no longer there to him. I was less visible than air. My mother had taken me aside quietly.

'Elyian. One day you will undergo your brother's training, and you will understand. For now, be as silent as the shadows, and blend in like water.'

I understand now, why my brother had acted like he did. Now that I mirrored him, I understood _perfectly._

The training was nothing like the usual training at all. No firing poison at monsters, or shooting them full with smoking fire arrows of pure mana.

It was a training to bury your soul within yourself, and to lock it up and destroy the key. It was training designed to create the impenetrable mask that you hid behind, a mask appropriate for a member of the Tasaire family.

The Tasaire family.

Edir Tasaire, governor of Ossyria and Ludus Lake.

Eris Tasaire, a beautiful Arch Mage of ice.

Enei Tasaire, a handsome and powerful ranger.

And me, Elyian Tasaire.

Supposedly a prodigious and pretty Fire and Poison mage, reaching second advancement within four days of hardcore training.

The people of El Nath wanted to be us.

But would they want to be us, if they knew that the dark power of hackers thrived in our bodies, instead of blood? The extents that we would go to hide our secret?

Guess not.

'Lady Elyian, we have arrived.'

I rose from the seat, and mentally prepared myself for six years of training.

I was only ten years old, when I entered the academy.

* * *

_**The master of the six.**_

_**Rikir.**_

_I owe them nothing._

_They owe me their lives._

_I love all of them._

_They leave my presence, hating me._

* * *

'Another year, another six brats to deal with.'

I sighed, leaning back into my swivel chair. I loved the chair. It was worth becoming a teacher at this school for this chair.

'Rikir! You must not speak of them like that. I've heard that you have the honour of educating the distinguished Lady Elyian, the fire poison prodigy.'

I raised my eyebrows at my colleague.

'A spoilt princess? I hope the others have more potential.'

'Rikir!'

I started reading the list of the kids aloud.

'Zack of Kerning. Aria of Ellinia. Xan of Korean Folk Town. Io of Orbis. Neri of Mu Lung. And the so-called prodigy of Ossyria and Ludus Lake, the distinguished Elyian Tasaire of El Nath.'

I scanned down the list again, noticing the distinct lack of family or clan names.

'All of them are orphans, except for the little princess.'

'Not very unusual, Rikir. After the foolish attempt of massacring of our kind by the humans, most of us have gone into hiding.'

'Or their parents could have died. Or they were just randomly exposed to Hackinium, the odds being zero to infinity.'

'Your sarcasm does not go unnoticed, Rikir.'

'Your smarminess doesn't, either.'

Classical music butted in, informing us that it was the end of the school day. I imagined the kids sighing happily, heading back to their dormitories to finish up on homework and start honing their hack skills.

'Well, induction day is tomorrow. Goodbye, Rikir.'

I grunted at him, and then grinned.

My six brats were in for a rollercoaster ride.

* * *

This is my first Maplestory fanfic. Please leave a review and tell me how I should improve. ^_^

Oh yeah, I made a trailer for this fanfic… :o

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-


	3. Initiation

**Disclaimer: Everything is ©Wizet & Nexon. I'm just using everything of theirs to weave my story. :o Oh, and credits to maplesim for the names of the weapons.**

Oh yeah, I made a trailer for this fanfic… :o

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Type Lyrei  
Click on [Trailer] Hacker's Academy

Uh. And read the story? :D

-

**Chapter two.**

**The initiation.**

* * *

_**Aria.**_

_I'm out of my cage, and I feel so strange._

_Like a blind man seeing light for the first time._

_Like a songbird out of it's cage._

_Freedom feels different._

_Not bad, but just… different._

* * *

_The induction._

* * *

I blinked drowsily at the overwhelming light, before rubbing my eyes and focusing on my surroundings. Lots of kids were in the grandly decorated lobby, all starting to wake up like me, but only a couple were wandering around. There were dozens of high-levelled people stationed around the place, alert, as if waiting for someone to escape or attack. I fumbled around in my robes for my communicator, then gaped at it as it simply went crazy. All of my buddies appeared for second, then they simply disappeared. Then they appeared again, but half was missing. I tried to pinpoint my location, but my map screen was blank.

Where the heck was I? I thought about throwing the pocket-sized fancy computer at the wall, but decided against it. There was always time to throw a fit later.

'Welcome, to the Hacker's Academy for the Villainously Educated and Notorious, known to the students as HAVEN. I am the headmaster- Master Caesar. All of you have been tested positive for Hackinium, and have passed our _little tests_.'

The raven-haired man headmaster smiled, and I shivered. He was dangerous, with crackling hack energy around him. Not someone you'd like to cross. He waved his hand at the darkened stage at the front of the room.

'I will spare you any long-winded speech that I may have prepared. After all, pictures do paint a thousand words.'

He clapped his hands sharply and vanished in a flash of swirling energy. Dramatic, much?

Then the stage lit up, and the show begun.

Dozens of Crimson Balrogs circled in the spherical stage, contained by destructive hack energy. The sphere-like stage now glowed a light blue, occasionally tainted dark by the black energy balls that the Balrogs threw. Then a mage appeared in a swirl of tainted energy, clutching a frightened looking dragon knight. The dragon knight looked out of place, with eyes of pure terror and mortal looks, instead of unreadable turquoise eyes and inhuman beauty.

'This is what a normal person can do.'

The voice had changed- from the headmaster's mellow tones, to a lilting and melodious voice. Another sign of a hacker. I looked on at the dragon knight in horror, while my fingernails embedded crescent-shaped marks in my palm.

He tried to weave through and duck from the energy balls that the Crimson Balrogs threw at him but his armor soon became cracked from the strain. Blood flowed in a gentle stream from his mouth when he was head butted in the gut. All of us heard a loud crack when an energy ball connected with his shoulder.

And none of us could block out his agonizing screams.

'And this is what we can do.'

The mage teleported forward, and raised what I recognized as a dimon wand. He sang out a single, beautiful sound.

_Glacies furor._

_Ice fury._

I grimaced- must be the hacker part of me responding. The soft pulsating light of the sphere intensified into blazing eye-piercing light, but I could see through it with no pain at all.

Thousands upon thousands of ice shards swirled dangerously around the mage, and each shard grew elongated spikes until it resembled a minesweeper. My eyes widened as the mage spoke again, conjuring more shards of ice with a quick flick of his wrist.

_Pressum._

_Strike them down._

The shards charged into the hearts of the Crimson Balrogs, and soon there were seventeen neat piles of carcasses surrounding the ice mage, each pile with at least three dead Crimson Balrogs. A few 'ewwws' and 'that was so cool' came from the crowd, but otherwise everyone remained silent.

On top of the largest pile lay the dead dragon knight, with his omega spear stained with his own blood. He didn't even have a chance to land a blow on the Balrogs.

I felt sick- I wanted to retch, but I also wanted to run screaming from this place. Normal schools didn't murder people in front of kids. In fact, I was pretty surprised when everyone didn't go running for their lives. Didn't the fact that we might be next occur to them?

But this was a school for hackers, after all.

So I remained silent for the next two hours, watching as fire poison arch mages slaughtered a sphereful of people in two seconds flat. I watched as they set buildings on fire while the humans inside tried to stop it with water. Water seemed to have no effect on the dark flames.

I watched as clerics, no, priests controlled monsters with just a sound command, and bit back cries of shock as they destroyed the very meaning of our healing nature- by reversing the healing process. It was gruesome. Every healing the human had ever taken was reversed, and suddenly the flesh tore open, ribs were simultaneously cracked, and arms were torn off.

A simple blob of ice grew inside a person's body until the spikes poked out, covered in blood. Night Lords produced clones that killed straight alongside them, one against ten soon became thirty against zero. Bandits threw random junk and exploded them, producing higher damage than any amount of mesos dropped.

A dark knight's dragon roar extended outside it's range, killing a huge map full of monsters instead of only a small part. Marksmen and Bowmasters shot people full of arrows at point blank range, instead of knocking them back, fire and ice not just killing, but spreading across the ground at breakneck speed. There was even a kid dressed as a beginner, his club doing more then eleven digits of damage.

It was sick.

But I couldn't look away.

Because it was a glimpse into my future.

* * *

_**Zack.**_

_I once said_

_Anything was better than my old life._

_After I've seen my 'anything'_

_I'm not so sure._

* * *

_The Class._

Running away from two boneheads was not my idea of fun. Being cornered by two maniacs was not my idea of fun. Being _**kidnapped **_and treated to a visual of what the megalomaniacs could do… well. That wasn't fun either. And being forced to get into a classroom with five other kids I know nothing of? I had never been to school for even an hour in my life. I had no intention of starting either.

'You will remain in this class for the next six years. You have all been sorted by ability, class, and your test results.'

The ice mage's gaze swept across the room. I sensed one of the girls- a cleric with green eyes squirm uncomfortably. Maybe she wasn't one for being scrutinized.

'I am Arai, your classmaster. You will not be seeing much of me. Your teachers will report to me each week, stating your progress. I do not teach any of you, but you will know your teachers soon.' Then he stood up and waved his blue marine while softly whistling a sound.

_Expositus._

_Open._

A dark spark jumped out from the tip of his blue marine and enlarged until it became something resembling a dark hole, with stray sparks dancing around it.

'Enter. It leads to the weapons and armor chamber.'

The youngest of our class was a fire poison mage. She was very pretty, with large blue eyes and light-coloured skin. Her slightly wavy raven hair fell to her waist, and she had a fringe covering her eyebrows. She looked around eight years old.

What the hell was she doing here, where the people murdered others right in front of your eyes? Oh yes, I'm forgetting something. Wasn't there a kid who was amongst the crowd burnt by the fire mages?

She stepped straight into the portal without any sign of apprehension, while the rest of us proceeded more gingerly. It didn't feel strange or anything- it was just like stepping through a door… into a place covered in weapons, literally. I looked around, greeted by bookshelf-like rows of weapons. A table was stacked with stars, including crystal ilbis and hwabis and I made a beeline for it as my bandit classmate inspected the daggers nearby.

'Take as much as you wish- your inventory slots have been upgraded to limitless. If you by chance have any request, the academy will provide. Armors are in the other room.'

Holy… I had only ever thrown kumbis, and now I was the proud owner of twenty crystal ilbis, with insane hacked damage.

'You may choose any equipment or armor you wish. They have been altered so that anyone of any level may wear or use them.'

Our classmaster's dulcet voice darkened.

'However, should any mortal attempt to bend them to their will, they will immediately dissolve into hackinium acid.'

My heart dropped as I ran my fingers over the Raven Claws. So this was it, huh? You kill people for us and we give you fancy stuff. The school motto _was_ 'destroy limitations' after all. I guess they called humans limitations, because I've never seen so many people massacred in such a short time. I quickly selected a Night Raven's Claw, and headed over to the armor room. I felt uneasy- this was a little too easy. What was the catch?

'Also, please select any specific Nexon clothes you want. Touch them with the index finger of your weapon hand for two seconds first. You will need them, should you ever be sent outside on a mission or for training. Refrain from anything too outrageous. Everything else will be sent to your room later on.'

Nexon clothes? Only the rich people wore them… They were sold at extravagant prices, and the merchants could afford to splash out. Maybe to hackers, nothing was considered 'expense'. All they had to do was the take the free market by storm and steal everything. I started feeling sick now- all of this stuff was stained by invisible blood. But I didn't want to appear strange, so I ignored my emotions.

After picking a red Katinas, I headed over to pick the other parts of my armor, including a zakum helm and a dragon necklace. I tapped for a transparent hat, a dark shirt with a white tie, some ripped dark jeans and a pair of Black Air Trainers.

'Now that you have acquired your equipment, please return through this portal.'

* * *

'Zack of Kerning.' Why the heck did they keep reminding me of where I was born? 'Assassin, of level thirty-two.' Arai, or _classmaster_ as we had to call him, scanned down the list. My best guess was a list of who we were.

'Your training will include the ultimate increase of speed, hiding, star bombs, location training , assassin training and…' his brow furrowed, as if he couldn't understand what he was reading. 'Sense-trailing.'

I looked at him as if he had asked me to kidnap King Gobbledygook from Fluffland, Marshmallow Palace.

'Aria of Ellinia. Cleric, of level forty-one. Your training shall include reverse healing,' I noticed her pretty face twist into a grimace. Obviously, our previous visual experience with that wasn't very pleasant. 'Paralysis, Herbology, cleric training, energy draining, and vibe sensing.'

Her eyebrows rose at the last part. Vibe sensing? What the heck was that? This entire thing was insane.

'Xan of Korean Folk Town. Bandit, of level thirty-eight. You training entails bandit training, manipulation, telepathy, gravity control, scamming, and past-touching.'

The lessons seem to be seriously random and I had never even heard of most of the stuff. Past-touching?

'Io of Orbis. Huntress of level thirty-four. Your training comprises of Flectomancy, or the making of artifacts, huntress training, shield training, elemental studies, engineering, and monsterancy. '

'Neri of Mu Lung. Spearman of level forty-five. Your training shall be advanced tactics, terramancy, refining, manipulation, spearman training, and instinctual training.'

'Elyian Tasaire. Fire-poison mage of level fifty. Your training shall be pyromancy, herbology, advanced fire-poison training, echolocation, monsterancy and body borrowing '

I mentally reeled- six special classes, not counting the normal hack lessons. I felt slightly disgruntled when Arai reeled off the levels. I was the oldest in the class and the weakest, whereas the youngest kid was the strongest.

'And this will be your most important possession. Its name is Mindbot, version 7.'

Arai picked up a small circular device with a glossy dark shell. He flipped it open, revealing a screen enveloping the upper half of the device completely. In the bottom part was a single key, instead of the little keyboard we had in our communicators. Arai smiled briefly before explaining.

'The Mindbot is fiendishly difficult to use, as the creators intended it to serve as mental training as well. The person who holds this device simply sends a thought to it, and it shall appear on this single key. It also obeys voice commands.'

Arai turned the device to the front, and pointed at the strange silver symbol.

'This symbol is the Traditional Chinese character for evil.' He looked at all of us squarely in the eyes.

'We are not evil, and we never will be. What we do to humans is what they would do to us, and what they have tried to do to us.' His eyes narrowed. 'We have been persecuted for being born with our powers since the first of our kind.'

Then he wiped the dark look from his face, and gestured at the symbol again.

'But the creators thought it'd be nice to give humans something to talk about. It's primary function is to turn the device on, and to enlarge it if you so desire.'

He demonstrated for us, and also taught us how to search for our textbooks and timetable. It was like a communicator of sorts with a buddy list, search function, and a messaging device, but upgraded by hacks. As usual, it had a self-destruct.

'_Let a mortal touch the symbol and his arms shall be eaten away.'_

Did they _have_ to add a gory touch to everything?

'Now that that's over with, I might as well explain to you how things work around here.'

The ice mage perched on the desk.

'Like I said earlier, you won't be seeing much of me. Your core master is Rikir Sylvanio of Ludibrium, a level 113 ranger. He'll be more of a classmaster than I will be, I suppose.'

Hell yeah. I don't want a smooth-talking hacker guy to teach us almost everyday for the next six years. Even if he was pretty kind and all.

_**Xan.**_

_I don't feel guilty._

_I don't feel hate._

_But isn't hacking_

_Just a little wrong?_

_I've seen what they can do._

_And truly, I'm not surprised_

_If the humans want to kill us_

_Because they're afraid_

_That we will turn on them._

_Justified fear._

* * *

_The connecting._

Well, this was fucking awkward. Our classmaster had **'kindly'** decided to '_leave us to our own devices'_ for two hours. He had also not very subtly hinted that it would be wise to interact with the guys we'd be spending the rest of our six years with, and that there were very high chances that we'd be a permanent team. I looked around.

A weak assassin, a bimbo huntress, a cleric who didn't want to meet anyone's gaze, a warrior who screamed 'STRONG AND SILENT', and a fire mage kid who just sat there looking like a china doll. Why was I always in the rubbish team?

'What're we going to call ourselves?' The annoying huntress from earlier was clearly bursting with excitement. _Maybe her bimbo brain forgot about the several hundred people massacred for our entertainment. _

I leaned back on my chair and put my feet on the table, ignoring the dirty looks that she shot at me. She'd be easy to rile. The corners of my mouth twisted up into a smile.

'How about KHITNOH?'

'Kitno?' She glared at me suspiciously. My my, I musn't have offered her a very good first impression. I smirked at her.

'K-H-I-T-N-O-H. Killing Humans In The Name Of Hackers.'

I saw her slowly start to turn crimson, her pale skin with visible splotches of red. Xan 1 – Annoying huntress 0.

'You no like? How about OGYI? Oh god, you're irritating? If you prefer, I-'

'Stop it; _you're _the one who's being irritating here.' Ooh, the cleric can't bear to let the huntress suffering in silence. I must have hit her in the soft center that all clerics are rumored to have. She turned to me, her green eyes flashing.

'She's right, we can't just be known as 'the class'. Personally, I'd rather have a name _representing _us, not just be known as Arai's brats.'

The assassin seemed to become more interested now that little miss cleric was involved. He stood up and leaned against the table.

'A name? Like we're a merry band of um.' He scratched his head. 'Hackers?'

Well, wasn't he bright. And he was supposed to be the eldest.

'How about… the Light?'

I snorted. Just how clichéd did it come? The assassin turned to me and smiled.

'How bad can it be?'

I began counting my fingers as I listed the reasons why we couldn't be called 'the Light'.

'One- we're hackers. Like the damn fancy new communicator's symbol, we're basically evil.' I caught the indignant look on his face. 'No matter what our classmaster says. Two. We aren't in some comic book here- this is real life, and hell, is it screwed up or what? Three-…'

'Okay okay, I get it.' The 'sin grinned, backing off. Another uncomfortable silence settled over us again, only to be broken by our own little fire mage.

'Zaxine.'

All of us turned to look at the little girl in surprise. I'd assumed that she was going to turn into some stuck-up little princess once the teacher's back was turned, being the only one with a family and all. As much as I hated to admit it, she was also the strongest as well.

'It's unique.' She regarded me indifferently. I shrugged to show my lack of opinion. 'It represents all of us.' At the huntress' blank look, she signed and began to explain.

'Z-a-x-i-n-e. Zack, Aria, Xan, Io, Neri, Elyian. Our names by age order.'

I contemplated it. It was pretty good I supposed. At least better than 'the Light', though I honestly thought that Khitnoh was much more appropriate.

'Zak-zine…'

The warrior hadn't said a thing until now. He looked around and smiled at the fire kid. Mind you- his definition of smile was the corner of his lips turning up slightly for a couple of seconds. He looked coolly at us, as if challenging us to argue about the name. The huntress grinned and a goofy smile spread across her face. She waved what I recognized as a Dragon Shiner Bow in the air enthusiastically.

'To the beginning of the Zaxines!'

Maybe this was a signal to join in and do something. I stared blankly as the assassin, no wait, _Zack, _held out his insane-looking claw. The cleric girl delicately held her blade-looking Doomsday staff beside it, barely touching it, and looked at me.

'Hurry up, Xan.'

It clicked. I kicked myself (in the metaphorical sense) and held out my Dusk Raven's beak, making it so it touched both of their weapons. We all ended up in a close circle, balancing each of our weapons.

'It's a perfect fit.' The cleric girl wondered, a head cocked to one side in puzzlement. I studied the circle of weapons carefully, with the unsettling feeling that I was getting into something more deeply than I knew. And I probably wouldn't be getting out of it.

'To us.'

We echoed the huntress' words, and leant back on the now scattered desks. We regarded each other in mild curiosity, like a dog getting to know its family. Okay, maybe that wasn't such a good example.

I shifted uncomfortably, and the cleric sensed my discomfort. She poked me with the edge of her staff lightly.

'Hey, what's wrong?'

Sheepishly, I asked the question.

'We won't be sharing blood anytime soon, right? I've never liked the smell of blood. And blood rituals… they aren't actually my thing.'

The rest of the group contemplated this in silence, making me feel more tense every second.

'No, Xan. I think we'll draw the line at blood.'

Always good to know. Couldn't be sure nowadays, what with hackers running rampant, killing here and there. I stiffened as I heard footsteps outside the door, and someone muttering to himself. The door flung open, and a ranger strode in, and threw his laptop-sized Mindbot on the table. He surveyed the room, and grinned.

'Why hello, kiddies. Welcome to the start of your six years of hell. Now turn on your mindbots and search for Hacker Sociology 101. The name's Rikir Sylvanio. I'm gonna be your core lesson master. Now move those desks, brats. '

* * *

_**Zack.**_

_I'm not a dog._

_I'm not loyal to my 'masters'_

_But I'm loyal to my friends._

_

* * *

_

_**Class: Hacker Sociology 101.**_

'What do you mean _we don't have to eat_?'

'I mean, you don't have to eat. How is that not blindingly obvious, Zackykins?'

I clenched my teeth. The teacher was… different. As in uncouth, infuriating and sarcastic different. He'd given all of us sickly pet names, calling us his little 'muffins' and 'bunnies', and insulted Elyian by calling her his 'little pop princess'.

Ten minutes had passed since he told us he was going to train us for the rest of our time here. Now, ten minutes later, we were all silently fuming, threats of murder evident in our eyes. I'm not joking here.

He impatiently tapped the screen on which his Mindbot was projecting onto. Turns out Mindbot Teacher Version 7.1 Beta had more stuff. I studied the diagram, my brain struggling to memorize all of the facts and equations we'd covered.

'Of course, you will still have to eat while your hackinium is coming to terms with your now slightly less human body. In time you'll all be able to absorb energy from others, including humans and monsters if your mana is extremely depleted.'

I shuddered. Sucking the life force out of people isn't what I'd call charitable.

'After you're done with this school, my little brats, you can depend on hackinium for your source of survival.'

He keyed in a couple of commands into the Mindbot. A different diagram explaining the chemical make up of Hackinium flashed onto the screen. How they managed to do that, I have no idea.

'However, Hackinium is essentially a poison, so it will slowly poison your system. At the end of school, you will die.'

My eyes bugged out, and I slammed my hands on the table in frustration as I stood up.

'What the _**hell. **_I'm too young to die, damn it! And what you're saying is a lot of bullshit. No way in your dreams am I going to drop dead after 6 years with _you, _so you might as well take that idea and shove that up your a-'

I heard a chuckle interrupt me, as the bastard teleported behind me and forced me to sit down. He wagged his finger at me like a mother would at her naughty child, which infuriated me more than ever.

'Now now, _Zachary_. We aren't going to get anywhere by shouting naughty words and interrupting the grown ups. As I was saying, you will die once school ends. Technically, your heart will just stop… And the changes to your virtually indestructible body will be complete. Through the 6 years it takes after your hackinium has been awakened, you may be able to conceive your own little demons, but after…'

I groaned, allowing my head to join my arms on the desk. Who the heck cared about having children during the time period? I quickly calculated the age of my friends and myself at the end of the 6 years. Aria and I would be 19, Xan and Io would be 18, Neri would be 17, and Elyian would be 16.

We'd all be teenagers.

* * *

_**Ten days**__ have passed since_

_**The six**__ have descended_

_Into the inhuman pit of the devil._

_Higher knowledge is gained._

_A __**scar**__ for every page they turn._

_A __**cut**__ for anything they learn._

_Each word, each skill_

_Must be paid_

_By humanity_

_And blood._

_And __**no**__, Xan. You can't give them counterfeited mesos instead of blood._

* * *

_**Aria.**_

'… And the things I hate are Master Rikir, killing people, and um. Homework.'

Leaning back into the comfortable silk pillow, I let the chatter of others wash over me. We were having a meeting of sorts, which had transformed into a get-to-know-each-other session.

'I don't know if I can survive here anymore.' I whispered, hugging my knees. The others looked at me in surprise, obviously not expecting the resident cleric to go psycho. 'The kid I've been healing in my cleric class… Oh god, you should have seen his injuries.' I buried my head in my hands, my mind treating to me to his horrific burns and cuts.

Elyian placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, while the others murmured their sympathy. We had gotten closer through our herbology lessons, although she still scared me when she threatened to shove Nightlock down Rikir's throat.

'Aria, you shouldn't get too upset by that… This may just be the beginning.' I felt her restlessness and pity, and turned round to look at her.

'What d'you mean?'

She bit her lip.

'The people here aren't wasteful. That person would have been kidnapped, had the injuries inflicted on him, and given to you.' I nodded. 'As luck would have it, you have reversed healing classes and…'

Blood drained out of my face. 'You mean I have to...' The words were left hanging in the air, and Elyian nodded. Xan gave her a friendly clap on the back, which brought a growl from Neri. He withdrew his hand quickly.

'No need to be so morbid, kid.' He turned back to me.

'We've probably got lots more gory stuff to do.' He offered me a sympathetic smile. 'Lots of blood and guts, yeah?'

Xan was bloodthirsty, but he did have a point. No need to mope around now- look forward to oceans of blood and corpses! Ooh and aah as the people surrounding you talk about missions of stealing intelligence and murdering half of Ossyria! Gape like a tourist as people regularly trudge by you in blood-covered armour. There was one of our awkward moments again as we contemplated our future for the first time. I was no fortune-teller, but I'd say that our future was probably covered in crimson streaks, surrounded by decaying bodies.

'The bastard did mention that he might let us out for Ludibrium Party Quests when I'm level 35. That'd be a nice break.'

Always a silver lining, Zack. Always a silver lining.

* * *


End file.
